Coq au Vin + Polenta + Roasted Zucchini, Carrots and Radicchio

I'm finally done with school and am home in Topanga for a week!! My mom and I went to the Topanga Farmer's Market yesterday and picked up a couple of chickens for dinner. I've been dying to make coq au vin and I figured that I could test out a recipe on the fam. It was also a really good way to try out my butchering skills (of which I have close to none).

Here are a few pictures of me butchering the chicken and marinating the pieces in red wine, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves:


I would have liked to marinate the chicken overnight, but I really wanted to eat the coq au vin that night so I marinated it for about 4 hours. I decided to make a quick chicken stock with the leftover bones. First, I chopped up some garlic, celery, carrot and onion and sautéed it all in some olive oil for a few minutes. I added in a few black pepper corns, bay leaves, thyme and the chicken carcasses and covered them with water. I've never made chicken stock before so I did the whole skimming thing over the course of about 2 and a half hours, something you don't have to do with vegetable stock. It wasn't the most intensely flavored stock but it was goooood for having only cooked for 2 hours.

When I was ready to start cooking the coq au vin, I patted the chicken dry and dredged each piece in some flour that I seasoned with salt and pepper.

I browned the chicken in batches:



Next, I chopped up a few carrots, a leek, half an onion, a few stalks of celery and some green garlic that we picked up at the farmers market.


I sautéed the vegetables in some of the leftover fat from the chicken.


I added in a little tomato paste and the browned chicken:


Next, I poured in the wine that the chicken had been marinating in, along with the herbs and a little extra thyme before topping it off with some of my chicken stock. I put the lid on and simmered it for about an hour. Next, I removed the chicken from the pot and reduced the sauce down for about 10 minutes. I then added the chicken back in and let it heat back up in the sauce for a few minutes before serving.


In the meantime, I made some polenta with about 6 parts water to 1 part milk. At the end of the cooking process, I whisked in about a tablespoon of butter and a cup of grated parmesan.

I roasted some radicchio with a little salt, pepper, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.




I also roasted some zucchini and carrots with salt, pepper, olive oil and a little drizzle of sherry vinegar.




For my sister, Kali, who doesn't eat meat, I made a little beurre rouge to go with the polenta and vegetables. I make this all the time to eat with polenta and roasted vegetables and it is sooooo good. First, I reduced down some red wine with a chopped shallot, rosemary and thyme. I then strained out the wine and slowly whisked in some butter. And that's pretty much it! yum.